A little of everything and nothing, all in one blog

Tag: marriage

One of the benefits of having an office big enough to share is that Peter works from home so much more. It’s been so nice to cut the commute time and have him be able to be able to pop out for lunch and then back into the office.

But there is a downside…we have totally opposite working styles. I like order. He likes chaos. I do not eat at my desk. He has full blown meals (I’m cringing while I type…). I like my papers stacked up neatly and I have a system of where each project goes. He has the paperwork tornado approach. What’s worse is that his craziness spills (sometimes literally) onto my stuff. Which if someone touching my stuff wasn’t enough, food stains aren’t really my gig.

So for months I have been trying to find a new desk configuration that would work for both of us. Something where we could each have our space and storage and have a cohesive look to the office. That in itself is a challenge. Finding something that meets that criteria AND that we both agree on was damn near impossible.

Every few days I would find myself digging around online looking for ideas. We couldn’t agree on anything. Finally one day I sent off an email with links to a few things I found that I liked (or could tolerate if he liked) and we got a hit. A great, rustic industrial desk from Target. The price wasn’t too bad to buy two of them – plus there was an online sale. Sold!

I love the illusion that there’s just one desk.

We were also able to reuse my current desk’s sides and reconfigure them into a console table. It made for a cheap solution to my need for drawers. I like storage and organization, but it all has to be out of sight. I am very visual so whatever I am working on, or need to work on, goes on the desk. But if too much is out, the clutter makes me itchy. It’s a delicate balance.

Now I have to get some clever storage bins for the shelves. I need something that looks nice but also is functional that can hold file folders…plus some cute desktop accessories…I see a trip to The Container Store in my future.

Today PW and I are celebrating 9 years of marriage (15 years together!).

There’s been a few for worse times. A life time of for better times. Some sickness, lots of health. Thankfully more richer than poorer.

Four road trips from DC to Phoenix and back. One house full house remodel. A job change. Two kids and countless other memories that have made us who we are today.

We are so lucky. So blessed. We are the lucky ones that meet when we were 17 and are still very much in love 15 years later. It’s a different love. When you’re newly weds, your love is based on hopes and dreams for the future. After 9 years, our love is rooted in the experiences we’ve had. In surviving the bad times. In enjoying the good times. In learning how to be supportive and to allow yourself to be supported.

When we got married, my mom gave us a budget. Whatever we didn’t spend, we got to keep. It was up to us how we spent it- we could elope and keep it all, we could use it as a down payment on a big wedding. Peter was a first year law student racking up loans and I was working retail. So we decided to split the middle. We had lots of appetizers, good booze and a great DJ and then bought a couch with the remainder. One of our friends worked for a wine company and had several cases of champagne “fell off” the truck and into the bar of our reception. It was cheap stuff but the fact that it was free made it taste like Crystal.

I love you to the moon and back PW. Here’s to 99 more years together and to always remembering how good the cheap stuff tastes!

I love the song Hey. Ho. from the Lumineers (Baylor calls it the song where “they yell a lot”). When they say “she’d be standing next to me” it always gets me – there’s something so powerful knowing that the person you love is standing next to you.

Today PW and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary and all I kept thinking about were the places and times we’ve stood next to each other…

He stood next to me at our high school graduation

He stood next to me all through college

He stood next to me at our college graduation

He stood next to me on an alter and said “I do”

He stood next to me when we moved 3,000 miles to DC

He stood next to me when I cried desperately homesick

He stood next to me when he graduated from law school

He stood next to me when we drove from Phoenix to DC twice and DC to Phoenix twice

He stood next to me when Baylor was born

He stood next to me held me up when Mame died

He stood next to me when Auggie was born

He stood next to me through countless hard times, millions of good times, struggles, triumphs…he’s always there with a smile, a hug, a voice of reason and a shoulder to lean on.

Peter and I never text each other so when we do, I come across old messages – like way old. I saw one the other day from our annual San Diego trip. We had been enjoying the beach until PW was stung by a stingray (or a creature as B calls it) and went back to the room to boil his foot (no joke, that’s what takes the pain away) and a beer.

Because really, who doesn’t love a reference to a Snoop Dogg rap when discussing their unborn child?

Also? Ignore the shnicklfritz comment (too much to explain) and the Big Momma is my mom (personality really, not size) – people tend to frown on women 8 months pregnant drinking on the beach…

If you are a fan of deer and elk meat, please message me so I can get you a BIG package. I support the hunting. I do not support me eating the spoils. Picking buck shot out of my teeth is not on my bucket list, FYI Peter.

Apparently I used the wrong version of counsel when writing an email to Peter and my mom this week. This morning I got a post it note on my desk:

I thanked Captain Spelling and then went back about my business. He then proceeded to make fun of my spelling abilities, which, he has known for the last 13 years are less than stellar. I told him that the way I would remember the difference between council and counsel is that the S in legal counsel is for shithead.

That was enough to make Captain Spelling retreat from the office. And gave me an excellent pneumonic device for remembering the difference between the two words.

I have a theory about being pregnant and those around me drinking. My theory is this: I obviously can’t drink, so why wouldn’t I be the designated driver? And why wouldn’t I be the DD for as many friends as possible? Really, just because I can’t enjoy many many many glasses of wine, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t and have someone to drive you home safely and mostly for free.

I say mostly not because I would charge people for my taxi services – I learned my lesson charging for driving servicse one night in college. My parent’s asked me if I would drive them and their friends to and from dinner. I agreed, but for a price. And because my mother is far more devious than I am, they made me wear a chauffeur hat, all sat in the back seats and instructed me to “not turn around”. Major backfire.

I wouldn’t volunteer to drive and then collect actual dollar bills…I say mostly because I do expect reciprocity. And I do keep track. If I drive a group of friends to dinner as the DD, in about 5-6 months, I will be calling them to go to dinner and I will expect them to drive, no questions asked.

PW gets the worst of it. And this time around he’s much more aware of his tab. With Baylor, my sobriety lasted a little longer than the standard gestation of a baby for breast feeding, severe sleep deprivation and because it took awhile to get back into my skinny jeans and my drinking shoes (who’s a lightweight? me!). Therefore his tenure as non negotiable designated driver lasted close to a year. Which is why this time, he is keeping a much closer eye on his tally.

To me, cooking is love. Making a meal for your family is an expression of how much you care for them. So this Valentine’s day, we’re doing dinner in. I’m making of PW’s favorite dinners: marinated flank steak, sauteed mushrooms, twice baked potatoes and cookies that B helps make. I’m hungry just writing it!

And do me a favor and pretend that we are making Valentine’s cookies and not Christmas cookies in Baylor’s pic – k? Sometime’s there’s just not enough time and or cold medicine in a week to stage a holiday appropriate pic!

PW dreams of the day when we will own a home that has enough space for him to have his own office where he can hang whatever dead animal on the wall that he wants, watch ESPN all the time and smoke cigars. Until then, he’ll have to make due with his newest creation; the outdoor TV:

I bought this armoire at a neighbor’s yard sale like 3 years ago. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I had to have it. I envisioned it on the patio full of pots of succulents – the pots never materialized, but three years in the elements gave it an awesome finish.

The finished product looks a little rough, but it wasn’t quite finished when I snapped this pic. I’m planning to put some pots around it to add a little greenery – right now you stare at the gas main and the grill (which PW thinks is AWESOME, because what man doesn’t like staring at his grill?). But unlike the succulents, a pot with a vine trailing over the side of the armoire is GOING TO HAPPEN.

I have to say, it is pretty cool. Peter also got to show off his manly man skills by removing the two shelves from the cabinet, sanding the inside to make the paint a little more even and then reusing the shelves to make a box to set the TV on. To say he is thrilled with his creation is an understatement. If it hadn’t started raining Sunday afternoon, he would probably still be out there. I think it’s greatness has yet to be realized but it’s coming during March Maddness. A little sun tan, a little beer and no waiting for a table at a sports bar? Priceless.

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Welcome to the Goon Room! An homage to the lovely space in my college sorority house where the conversations rarely stopped and ranged in topics from school, to love, to life and where to go to spray tan.
Having left the hallowed walls of Alpha Phi years ago, I have started The Goon Room to channel some creative energy and also make my friends laugh. I hope you enjoy!